41 Secret Service Employees Disciplined over Chaffetz Leak

After leaking the application and rejection of a congressman in apparent retaliation for a House investigation last year, 41 Secret Service employees were disciplined.

Years before his election to the House of Representatives, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, applied for a position at the Secret Service and was rejected. When Chaffetz took his position in the House, he began investigating the Secret Service’s scandals and missteps over the past few years.

In an effort to embarrass Chaffetz, Secret Service agents improperly accessed private information from Secret Service personnel records on Chaffetz and distributed it to staff internally and ultimately to the press.

According to the IG’s investigation, the documents were accessed at least 60 times by internal staff, who included 57 USSS employees, including 11 officials in the Senior Executive Service.

In a statement from Homeland Security Department Secretary Jeh Johnson Thursday, the employees were given a range of sanctions, from a reprimand to suspension without pay, and even resignation for the individual who leaked the information to The Washington Post.

“The Secret Service is the finest protection agency in the world. It is for this reason that we must demand of its men and women the finest standards for professionalism and integrity. Under the leadership of Director Clancy, I hope and expect the Secret Service has put sad episodes like this behind it,” Secretary Johnson said in the statement.

In a statement, Chaffetz told Federal Times, "this should have never happened and should not happen again.”

In answer to Johnson, Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said the agency implemented additional security controls to only allow the correct people to view personnel records. Clancy also said he made it clear to Secret Service employees that such breaches of privacy will not be tolerated.

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